Vol 30(1) 2005 - 20 years of the Sex Discrimination Act

Editors for this issue: Sera Mirzabegian and NSW Committee

Twenty years after the Sex Discrimination Act was passed, this article looks at its impact and evaluates its effects. In prohibiting formal discrimination in important areas such as work and education, the Act paved the way for women's movement into the workforce in large numbers. However despite its achievements, the Act has not been a panacea for women's disadvantage, and there are many continuing problems on which it has had little effect. It is in need of review and strengthening to meet the challenges of today.

This article considers how custom is used in Vanuatu as justification for discrimination against homosexuals. It begins by considering development of custom as a political construct, before turning to discuss the history of same sex-sexual behaviours in Vanuatu. The interplay between Christianity and custom and their relationship to forces of modernisation is then explored as a possible explanation for why homosexuality is rejected as being anti-custom.

In 2004 Australians were encouraged to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Federal Sex Discrimination Act 1984. Sex discrimination in respect of 'accommodation' (housing) is notoriously under-reported: formally it is invisible. To glimpse the invisible, the authors drew on the stories of women seeking rental accommodation or repairs. This article describes the principal themes of those stories: the impact of discrimination, the ways women manage it and the implications their vulnerability and experiences have for future developments of law and policy.

This article examines the right to silence in Australian superior courts, and the manner in which those courts have sought to protect that right by limiting the types of judicial comments and directions that may be given to a jury. The author argues that section 20 of the Evidence Acts, which limits judicial comments, is an abstract method of protecting fundamental rights. Through an examination of the High Court's decision in Dyers v The Queen (2002) 210 CLR 285, the author traces the development of a jurisprudence which sees judicial comments as the dominant method of preserving the right to silence, the presumption of innocence, and the criminal burden and standard of proof. The article also questions the evolution of an entire corpus of generally applicable evidentiary rules from the unique context of child sexual abuse.

This article describes criminal sentencing procedures in Queensland which enable Indigenous community justice groups to have input in the sentencing process. It also examines the growing practice of 'circle sentencing', and assesses whether that approach is appropriate for the Queensland jurisdiction.

Australia's Federal Government has recently struck a Taskforce to consider specific matters relating to child support. This article considers this move in the context of what is argued to be a typical and cyclical pattern of family law reform. It traces the genesis of the Taskforce and looks at how a cyclical pattern of law reform has shaped its Terms of Reference. The author discusses what might be driving this pattern of reform and the implications it has for users of the family law system. Finally, the article identifies some opportunities afforded to the Taskforce by the Terms of Reference to reconsider the direction of child support reform.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was belatedly forced to pay about $200,000 compensation to a refugee it falsely classified a national security risk, causing him to be detained without trial for nearly two years. The case is another reason to question the extraordinary powers that the Howard government has given ASIO, under the pretext of combating terrorism. It also highlights the draconian character of Australia's refugee detention regime.

As part of a 10-year Plan for renewal of the Redfern and Waterloo communities, the NSW Government recently established the Redfern-Waterloo Authority. The Redfern-Waterloo Authority will be responsible for promoting and managing sustainable development in the area, particularly with regard to infrastructure. Although the Redfern-Waterloo Authority has the potential to drive and realise positive change in Redfern and Waterloo, the establishment of what is essentially a development corporation has raised real community concerns. This Brief discusses community concerns about the Redfern-Waterloo Authority and the potential implications for residents of Redfern and Waterloo, particularly the Indigenous and other disadvantaged communities.

The Boxing Day tsunami has wreaked havoc and tragedy for many people. In Asia's quest to become the next tiger economy, planning regulations and environmental protection had largely been sidelined or ignored. Amidst the disaster, data have begun to show that natural ecosystems could have lessened the death toll and damages.

Sporting authorities naturally favour rules such as salary caps and player drafts to repress wages and equalise competition. The common law prefers free market principles. Yet paradoxically, such individualist values have aided collectivism in the form of associations representing professional sportspeople, because to protect such regulation, administrators must enter collective agreements to keep the player 'unions' and their members happy.